A Strange Kind of Welcome

It was supposed to be a ‘Day Of Welcomes’. As European borders for the 10 new countries joining the EU are dissolved, Dublin – official home of the EU presidency for the six months that are in it – is cordoned off with barricades, razor wire and armed riot police. US citizens are given a formal warning by their government not to travel to Dublin. A 7,500 strong team of Gardai and army personnel are deployed, as several thousand activists from varying political backgrounds take to the streets to protest for an alternative Europe. Céad míle fáilte.

Various marches, carnivals, cycle rides and picnics, all constructed around the theme of protest, have been taking place at various locations across the city over the Bank Holiday weekend. There was, you might say, something for every activist. On Friday evening, 500 cyclists and pedestrians moved in peaceful protest through the city. Saturday saw a march organised by the Another Europe Is Possible (AEIP) coalition – a group that involves the Green Party, Sinn Fein, the Socialist Party, the SWP, the Anti War Movement and a number of NGOs – to highlight opposition to war.
With an estimated attendance of 2,000, the group moved down the quays towards Heuston Station chanting ‘We all live in a terrorist regime’ to the tune of The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’. Meanwhile, another group of several hundred activists, who are concerned with government policies on immigration, asylum and EU enlargement, and the dominance of Fortress Europe policies, reclaimed one of Dublin’s few remaining private parks – Fitzwilliam Square – where they held a picnic, under the No Boreders banner.
But it was Saturday evening’s Bring The Noise march to Farmleigh House near the Phoenix Park, where the 25 EU Heads of State were meeting, that attracted the most attention. This particular protest was scheduled to commence from Parkgate Street. However, armed riot police closed the street, effectively cancelling the march and forcing it to relocate to O’Connell Street – the first such action against street protest in this country since the 1913 lockout.

Hotpress joins the march at approximately 6.30pm. Gardai are ranged in clusters of four or five, hands behind backs, looking on blankly at the crowd or chattering amongst themselves. Protestors with loud speakers are chanting, some are dancing, drums are beating and people are waving a rainbow of flags. As we move up the road, I notice a bunch of Gardai carrying handheld digital video cameras, ready to video the protest as it happens. As I go to take a photograph, one Garda points the camera at my face. Socialist Workers’ Party member, Chairperson of the Irish Anti-War Movement and member of AEIP, Richard Boyd Barrett, is amongst the estimated 2,000 attendees. He is keen to voice his opinions on what he considers to be an overblown security operation, employed to control what is, fundamentally, a peaceful group. As opposed to genuine concern by the Gardai, Boyd Barrett insists that this is all part of a marketing exercise to divert media attention away from the issues the protestors are trying to highlight, as well as a dress rehearsal for the pending visit of US President, George W Bush. “This is a test run for when he [Bush] comes,” he says. “I think what they really wanted to do today was scare people from coming on the protest – but I also think the State would like a confrontation with the protestors today.
“I think they’d like to draw us into a confrontation and, that way, not only justify a huge policing operation around the Bush visit, but also curb the right to political protest. We’re very determined that there should be no confrontation with them because we think that’s what they want. They’ve created a false threat of violence to justify repression and limiting of the right to protest in the same way Bush and Blair used the false threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction to justify war. The Garda tactics are similar to that of the police at the G8 summit in Genoa – the same kind of hype about threat of violence, which became a self-fulfilling prophecy.” There is, of course, a genuine irony in this. “The real instigators and supporters of violence are not the people who are outside protesting here, but the people who are inside Farmleigh house,” Boyd Barrett adds. “People like Tony Blair and Silvio Burlusconi and, for that matter, Bertie Ahern, who are either directly involved in the brutal occupation of Iraq or, as in the case of our government, support that occupation. If people really want to see what violence looks like, they need look no further than the photographs of Iraqi people being tortured by US soldiers.”

Rewind three hours to a glorious May Day in St Stephen’s Green. Liz Curry – a Dublin Grassroots Network activist, and self-confessed follower of no set political ideology – is informing me of the media scaremongering associated with DGN.
“One of the tabloids said that we have no beliefs and no principals, other than causing mayhem and destruction,” she laughs. “I think he called us ‘violent thugs’. Now when I say us, most of the papers did not actually say any one group or any one person. They peddled completely anonymous allegations from anonymous sources. There was a quote about Dublin Grassroots from News Of The World saying that we were a ‘sinister anarchist group with a blueprint for mayhem’. This is absolutely incredible! They said that we had ‘a plan to taunt inexperienced young cops into baton charging us to make them look bad’. Isn’t that disturbing?
“It was very funny and it made us laugh,” she adds, “but it’s also terrifying because it pre-justifies any kind of reaction on the part of the police on the day. There’s been a lot of quotes from Garda sources saying things like, ‘We know there are people coming with violent intent’, so they’re using that to justify both hassling people coming into the country, as well as people on the streets here. Then, if they actually beat anybody on the day, if anything goes wrong for them, they’ll say, ‘But we knew there were these violent people coming and we told you all about it in advance’.”
Down on the streets, the scale of the police presence all over Dublin and the sight of Gardaí in full riot gear became more unnerving as the day went on.
“They accuse the protesters of being violent,” she says, “but if you look at the pictures, you’ve got protesters dressed in pink or whatever and then you’ve got riot squads with helmets, shields, padding, batons. And behind them, who we hopefully won’t see, are the army – who are armed. Which of those two groups of people look more violent and intimidating? Which side looks the most nervous? We are going to be looking happy because we know what we’re doing, we know why we’re there and we know we’re surrounded by friends. They, on the other hand, are nervous and do not seem to know what they’re supposed to do on the day – and they’re being put in that position by the government.
“They have managed to militarise the entire city, which is interesting when you think about it because this protest is actually about three things: privatisation, militarisation and – lo and behold – fortress Europe.”
Something equally worrying is the new definition of the word ‘terrorism’ across the EU.
“It is broad enough to take in any form of political dissent,” she explains. “If your intention is to change a political system, that makes you a terrorist. In the States at the moment, protesters are described as domestic terrorists. So this includes ‘Food Not Bombs’ – people who give out free food to the homeless. It also includes people like ‘Homes Not Jails’ – a group who try to open up derelict buildings for homeless people to sleep in. This is something people really need to watch. Our civil liberties are under attack and we really need to be looking out for that. “The ICCL have been fantastic in the run up to May Day,” she continues. “They’ve written an open letter to the Gardai, asking them to make sure to remember that their job is also to protect the protesters’ democratic right to protest and to ensure their safety as well. The authorities imply that somehow the police are going to be protecting the Irish population from violent protesters?! We are the Irish population! And the EU population for that matter! We’re citizens, we’re people! The public have nothing to worry about whatsoever. If anybody should be worried, it’s the protesters. I hope everything will be fine, but the only people who could get hurt in this situation are us, as far as I can see. Hopefully that won’t happen.”

It would appear that Liz Curry spoke too soon. On Saturday evening outside Farmleigh, water cannons were used against protesters. Two people were reportedly suffering from head injuries thanks to baton wounds from police. At the time of going to press, 25 arrests had been made. I spoke to Niall Cosgrove – a protestor who had been at the front line when the violence started. He explains: “We were standing to one side of the road. The Gardai were in front of us. There was a wall behind them, with riot police behind that. The police rushed forwards. There was nothing we could do – we couldn’t move backwards fast enough. We were trying to get out of the way, but they just rushed forward and tackled us. I saw a girl fall over and they started kicking and trampling on her.
“I rushed forward to try and help her so that we could both run away, but as I did they grabbed my jacket, ripped it off me, picked me up and threw me over the wall into the path of the riot police. They threw the young girl over the wall as well, so she got trampled by the riot police on the other side of the wall.”
All around, there were scenes of confusion and mayhem.
“I lost her for a while but I found her later and she was alright,” Cosgrove adds. “She was crying, only a little petite girl, maybe 5’1”, 5’2”. She couldn’t move out of the way fast enough when the police rushed. We hadn’t done anything, there was nobody actually giving abuse or attacking the police or anything. We were just standing to the side having a chat, having already moved far back from the water cannons and stuff.
“We thought we were safe enough here for the moment but then they just rushed at us. If they’d asked us to move back we would have. The riot police were not wearing identification numbers.”
But then they seldom seem to when push comes to shove – and they decide they’ll inflict some damage – accountability being anaethema to the Gardaí. Whatever their intentions may have been their Day of Welcomes descended into an Evening of Violence.
Fortress Europe turning on its own citizens…